Difference between Outline and Full Planning Permission
When you are applying for Planning Permission for a large project, you normally have two options: go for Full Planning Permission or apply for Outline Planning Permission.
In this blog, we discuss the main differences and why one application type may be favoured over another. However, we recommend that you don’t decide whether to go for outline or full planning permission for sure until you’ve talked to your architects and planners.
Full planning permission
By submitting a Full Application, you are seeking complete approval for the design of your proposal (including the amount, scale, layout and appearance of the development, as well as any landscaping) and the proposed access arrangements. You will need to submit a full suite of documents and drawings along with your application.
The decision should be made within 13 weeks for major projects and eight weeks for smaller projects.
Why choose full planning permission?
If you are not intending on selling the land on and have the time, the funds in place and a clear sense of what it is that you want to build, then full planning permission is usually recommended.
Outline planning permission
Outline planning permission is much less detailed than full planning permission. By applying for it, you are asking the local planning authority to agree to the principle of development – with the specifics (called “reserved matters”) put aside until later.
As with a full planning application, the decision should be made within 13 weeks for major projects and eight weeks for smaller projects.
If your application is successful, you normally have three years to apply for approval for the details (“reserved matters”). Then within two years of the approval of the most recent reserved matter application, you need to start building.
Why choose outline planning permission?
The submission of an Outline Application is sometimes preferable if you wish to obtain Permission but you do not wish to build the development yourself, where the proposal is for major development, or where it is not prudent to submit a Full Application due to financial constraints.
As you are only asking whether the principle of development is acceptable, it means that time and money is spent on this, rather than, everyone wasting time debating the details of something that may never be permitted. This means that Outline Planning Permission is often a cheaper and faster alternative to Full Planning Permission. However, it all comes down to what the clients individual situation is.
At Hestia Town Planning, we use this route most often for land owners who want to sell land on with a guarantee that housing can be built, but without committing the new owners to constructing a specific type of house or scheme. This route is often appealing to the Client as it can take as little as three months and if Permission is granted then the land can often be eight times more valuable. The client sells the land on at a profit, leaving the new owner to refine and apply for the additional details at Reserved Matters stage.
Another advantage of Outline Planning Permission is that the Community Infrastructure Levy is not payable when you are granted outline planning permission. This is all left to the new owner.
Hestia Town Planning 